Russia, India to hold talks on building missile frigates

India is considering building Russian Project 11356 frigates at one of its shipyards and the corresponding talks are underway, Deputy Director of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Vladimir Drozhzhov said on Thursday.

“The experience of interaction in this sphere is very extensive. I hope that the Indian side will take all efforts jointly with Russia to maximally expedite the process of building ships at an Indian shipyard,” he said, without giving any details.

In 2016, an inter-governmental agreement was signed on building Project 11356 missile-carrying warships for India at shipyards of both countries, he said.

As the defense official said, “this project is among priority undertakings and special attention is paid to its implementation.”

Currently, talks are underway on the delivery of four Project 11356 frigates to India. Director for International Cooperation and Regional Policy at Russia’s state hi-tech corporation Rostec Viktor Kladov earlier said the planned contract would be implemented under the ‘two plus two formula’ where two frigates were expected to be built in Russia and delivered ready-made to India while the other two warships would be built by the Indian shipbuilding industry at one of national shipyards.

Three hulls of warships laid down in Kaliningrad for the Russian Black Sea Fleet were earlier intended to be used for the construction of Indian frigates. However, Russian Navy Deputy Commander-in-Chief Viktor Bursuk later said these frigates will be built in the interests of Russia’s Navy.

Project 11356 warships displace about 4,000 tonnes, develop a speed of 30 knots and have an endurance of 30 days. Russia earlier built six Project 11356 (Talwar-class) frigates for the Indian Navy.